Death in a Modern World
by JMB Fictional Writing
Summary: Richard Castle, famous author and consultant to the Twelfth Precinct Police Department, had written and thought up many outlandish stories and tales, some more fantasmal that others. But while working on a case with his muse and partner, Kate Beckett, he and her will uncover a strange string of murders and a secret more horrifying than one could imagine.


**Well this is my new story, something I have been toying around with for a while now. I remember a story once posted on this site of a crossover similar to this but it never got past the first chapter. This is my attempt to make a story just like that. Gonna be fun I assure you.**

 **I always liked stories where magical elements arrive in a non-magical universe. Like adding a Draenei Paladin to Mass Effect, or bringing a Forsaken Warlock into the Walking Dead, that kind of fun. This is just my attempt to do the same.**

 **Castle is an American crime-comedy-drama television series, it is a show that I fell in love with because of Nathan Fillion who you may know from Firefly or recently in Halo Guardian as 'Buck'. He simply makes the show what it is and I do think that I need to brush up on him a bit more and make him right but I just do not want to put this off any longer, so here it is.**

* * *

 **Death in a Modern World**

 **Chapter 01: Severed Hand**

 **New York City, 5:53AM**

Tim sighed as he got out of the truck, it was not the first time this morning, it was not going to be a good day for him. These early mornings were starting to get to him, three AM was not a good time to get up and get ready for work, especially if you were a garbage man. Sure there had to be someone that had to it, someone really had to do it and he wished it wasn't him, but with the cards life dealt him he had no choice.

But there was another problem that he had to deal with for the last week, something that made this unbearable job even more tiresome and irritating.

"This sucks, why the hell do we need to get up so early anyway?"

Tim turned to Enrique and gave him a queer look, his actual name was Fredrick Destamoz, they called him that because he looked a little Mexican. He thought it was racist, and in a way it was racist, but not the bad racist, kind of like the funny racist. After all the person who gave him the name was pretty funny, in fact she came up with the nearly racist names she gave people, sadly it was her very vocal and free spirit that got Fred here in bad with the boss.

"Because muchacho, you pissed the boss off, next time don't go sprouting off that crap you get from the cleaner." Tim replied, shaking his head, seriously how could this idiot think saying something like that to the boss was a good idea.

"Oh come on, Ruth calls the boss a bold fat fucking piece of shit, right to his face I might add! And I call him baldy and I am in the shit? How is that fair?" Enrique said, from the look of it he was offended, he looked at Tim with absolutely no comprehension how it was possible the damn cleaner could get off calling the boss that. "His bloody wife was there too, and she still said it!"

"I know, I was there, and it was funny." Tim replied, smiling for once, his wife looked absolutely shocked and scandalised that it happened, dear god she was looking between the two of them waiting for a fight.

"Then why am I getting the crap for one little comment? I was saying hello!"

"Because the cleaner is more likable than you, besides, when she says it she is nice and sweet about it. You're just an ass." Tim gave a half-hearted shrug while smiling at his buddy's plight, probably the only joy he god in this crap job anymore.

"How am I the ass, you here what she calls Amir? Sand-sifter, how the hell does she get away with that?" Enrique asked, Amir was freaking Arabic, how can she get away with a comment like that?

"I think she calls it selectively racist, or something, I think it is a good term." Tim replied, moving down the alley and checking the dumpsters, lifting a lid and leaning aside when the foul smell hit his nostrils.

He looked down the alley, he found three dumpsters lining the long alley and he knew that it had a loading bay where most of the other dumpsters were, but it was so clogged with junk getting the truck through would be impossible.

They were going to have to drag these steel bins out and then dump them near the curb, terrific start to the morning. They got these three and from the manifest and call about four more that needed to be emptied, that was great, they had to drag each one out and through the crap that people can't put in a bin.

"Looks like were dragging them out, start pushing this stuff to the side and clear a path." Tim said, before hearing Fred give a grunt before he started pushing things aside, lazy bastard just pushing it with his feet rather than lifting it.

"Great." Fred said, before looking to Fred. "You mind helping?"

"With that? Come on you freaking weakling it can't be that heavy." Tim replied, already pushing one dumpster out and onto the street.

Fred grumbled beneath his breath and may have given off a curse before he went to move it, as he lifted it up he noticed that it had the ensemble with it. The sheets and pillows looked clean too, which was strange considering how much of a dump this alley was, but he gave it little thought. Maybe a hobo was living down here, found a good mattress and was living like a king on it; maybe they could get him to clean this crap up.

Tim was back and already examining the next bin. Opening a lid he inspected the content, half full, it could go, no point in coming back here in a day or two just for one bin. Especially since they had so much more crap here they didn't want to drag the bin through to get to it.

"Hey, what's that?" Enrique said, pushing the mattress up against the wall and looking to the ground.

"The thing you just lifted up? It's called a mattress, you sleep on it, and considering you sleep in a hammock it is obvious why you have no idea what it is." Tim narked back, closing the lid and not seeing exactly what the problem was.

But as he took a step forward he noticed it, a reflection in the dim light of the moon, a big splosh of liquid on the ground. He had thought it an oil stain or something, but the way the maggots and flies were circling around it he knew it had to be something else. He pulled out his flashlight and shined on it, immediately he recoiled when he saw that it was a big crimson stain on the ground.

"Is that blood?" Enrique asked, stepping around the pool of dry crimson.

"Don't know, but there is a lot more of it." Tim said, looking past the one spot and near the mattress, near it he could see two more large marks, and maybe something along the walls and one dumpster.

"Jesus!" Fred said, stumbling back when he saw he was standing in one pile and nearly tripped on something.

Glancing down his eyes widened when he found he had stood on a severed limb. Tim had said the exact thing that had run through his mind when he saw it.

"Oh, hell."

* * *

 **12th Precinct, 7:02AM  
**

"Want to hear something cool?"

Beckett turned and looked impassively towards the man who dropped into the seat adjacent to her desk, his goofy smile and twinkling eyes giving away the sheer mirth he was feeling. Sadly for her that mirth was a major pain, because it often resulted in him doing something stupid to get a rise out of her. Although often it did get her to laugh and feel a bit of joy in her day, it still didn't change the fact it was annoying at time when he did it so often.

"Nothing you could possibly say would be anything short of mind numbing." Beckett replied, typing at the keyboard and trying to finish the report, but the way he continued to stare at her and wait for her to give in. "What?"

"Shazzam!" Richard Castle said, pulling out a comic book from within his coat.

"I thought you said 'hear' not 'see'." Beckett said, raising an eyebrow to the overly energetic consultant, was he eating suger again?

"Yes, but still Shazam is cool, but not as cool as this little beauty now in my hands!" Castle replied, drumming his fingers along the plastic covered item.

"That's it, a comic book?" Beckett asked, not impressed whatsoever.

"Not just any comic book, this is a mint 'Detectives Comic number Thirty-Eight." Rick replied, his voice thick with something – maybe arrogance or smugness – as he spoke out each word. "This is the issue that introduced Robin the Boy Wonder, sidekick to The Batman!"

Kate didn't know what was funnier, or sad in this case, that the man who was a New York Times Best-Selling Author who collected random pieces of memorabilia and often played with them like a man-child, or his poor attempt to sound intimidating while saying 'The Batman!'.

"Cannot believe someone was selling this for only a thousand dollars, it is practically a steal!" Rick said, smiling to himself as he marvelled as the plastic bag covered comic.

"More than likely because it was a steal." Beckett replied plainly, giving the comic a glance before shaking her head at her 'partners' enthusiasm.

"Come on, these things are rare and highly valuable, and besides I feel drawn to it, call it a feeling of having something in common." Rick said.

"You like to be the annoying little man-child that keeps saying stupid things while the adult has to put up with you as he fights crime?" Backett asked, and watched as he turned towards her, he looked startled for a moment and attempted to form a reply, but sadly he wouldn't be given a chance to save himself.

"Hey Beckett!"

Looking over her desk she found Javier Esposito standing just at the other end of the rows of desks. Jacket and jeans, white undershirt and his badge around his neck, and from the sight of his holster he looked ready to head out into the field.

"Just got a call, they need us down at fourth and twelve." Esposito said.

"Ooh, Holy Murder Batman, just what I wanted!" Castle said, leaping from his seat and doing a little flourish before holding out a hand to Beckett, a strange pout on his lips as he held up the comic book. "Now you will see the greatness that is me, by being the lead and you the sidekick."

"Castle. That comic is a fake, the ten cent sticker is missing." Beckett replied, standing up and walking past the writer, all the while smiling to herself as she didn't hear his footsteps, and when she turned the corner she noticed him looking at the comic stupefied.

* * *

 **4th Avenue & East 12th Street, 7:32AM  
**

Beckett swung open her door and exited her car, quickly moved for the opposite side of the street, Castle quickly following after as they made for the alley. Most of the area had been cornered off and the tape was in place, and she was glad that most of the lab forensics was already on site. But there was a decent crowd too and likely to keep growing as the day progressed and this investigation continues.

Showing her badge to the on post guard she ducked under the tape and moved for the scene, finding a long alleyway between two adjacent buildings. Lots of rubbish littered the ground, along with dirt and grime, and as she stepped through she was annoyed the fact she was wearing her good shoes. But she focused on the black haired forensic analyst; oddly enough there wasn't a body in sight.

"Alright Lanie, tell me us what we got?" Beckett called out.

"Nothing much, just a hand and a lot of blood, usually I like to give you more but I got nothing to work with here." Lanie replied, not looking up from her clipboard.

Beckett could see that, she found multiple barriers around large blood splatters along the ground, and even marking showing them off on the wall. Whatever happened here had been brutal; whoever had been killed must have been gutted.

"Whoa, that is a lot of blood, what did this?" Castle asked, looking around at the scene, yet it was obvious that the only way they would know where the blood is was because of the markers.

"No idea, but from the hand we recovered these poor bastards were cut to ribbons." Lanie said, gesturing to her right, where they found a marker outline of said limb.

"Bastards?" Castle asked. "There was more than one?"

"Got three splatter patterns, those large puddles are where each body was when whoever did this dropped them, based on the quantity and the distance between each puddle there were three people." Lanie said, before she looked over her board and skimmed a few pages. "Hand was severed cleanly, the bone and muscle didn't have any signs of tearing or trauma, one stroke and it came right off. But from the amount of blood on the ground whatever they used can be used for stabbing and cutting, and it was likely big if it left this much blood."

Beckett was already going over the possible scenarios for this, who was responsible could be anyone really. A strange, a random passer-by that decided to kill three people, or someone that potentially knew the victims, this kind of brutal slaying may be connected to that. But if that hand at least revealed one victim than it would give them some idea on why he may have been killed.

"That boot print there? The killers?" Beckett asked, seeing one of the puddles had an impression in its surface.

"No, that was made by one of the trashboys that called this in, besides this happened sometime last night, can't give you an accurate reading because of all the maggots and flies, they've contaminated the sample pretty good." Lanie replied. "But we did find an indentation into the ground in one of the pools; we think it might be the weapon that killed him."

Beckett moved over to the gestured pool, crouching down to find amongst the drying blood a single deep indent into the concrete, a good four inches in length and thick. Whatever the killer used it was a big blade, and if it could cut through people like that it had to be sharp. Yet why leave behind evidence like this? Did they think no one would notice with all the trash?

"This is tragic." Castle said, and Beckett turned to look at him over her shoulder, wondering what exactly he could be referring to. "Just look at those sheets."

Beckett raised an eyebrow, and she was certain Lanie did the same thing, she stood back up before looking at whatever he was gesturing to. Again she raised a brow as he pointed out the mattress leaning against the wall, a pair of sheets next to it and some pillows resting on top.

"Jet black and navy blue, it is a terrible combination, terrible!" Castle said. "Should have gone with either white or red, helps bring out the colour more."

"How is it that you know this?"

"What? Do you think my mother wears all those colourful dresses and didn't spend nonstop telling me which colours go best with which?" Castle replied, and Beckett was tempted to believe that was the exact reason he knew, but she decided not to humour him.

"Whatever you say, Kyan Douglas." Lanie said, rolling her eyes before turning back to her clipboard.

"Is the cute one? Or the funny one?" Castle asked, snapping his fingers as he tried to figure out which one it was. "Because I am sure that I fit both those criteria's."

"They're the Queer Eye gang, not the Backstreet Boys." Beckett said, smirking as she walked off, she would need to see about finding out exactly who these three were. "Come on Grooming Guru, let get to work."

They had a case and she wanted to jump right into it, always fun the first few hours of the case as all the information came rushing in to greet them. Who knows what she could learn about this in the next few hours.

* * *

 **12th Precinct, 9:16AM**

Beckett looked at the mostly barren white board, what she often used to dissect the little clues and titbits of information that propped up during a case. Sadly for the last hour of setting it up not much had come up, and that was beginning to get to her.

"Not much to go on huh?" Castle said, walking up beside her and looking at the photograph of the severed limb.

The black leather sleeve and glove hid the entirety of the skin, leaving nothing on what colour it may be or how old the arm may be. But they had a report, only a small one mind you, mainly some details of what had likely cut through the arm, but it still didn't have a definite name yet on whom it belonged to. That was always the key in this thing, knowing exactly who was dead and then tracking down any family and associates that he knew.

But as said the board was mostly blank with nothing else to go on, they got no victim or any connections and the motive was clearly non-existent. More than that, they had no weapon to track down the perp and with only one body part that made it harder to find connections. Clearly this case was off to a terrible start. She just hoped that when they got an ID on these guys that they could finally get some movement in this case.

"Yeah, usually it's a lot easier when we have a whole body." Ryan said, walking up with a cup of coffee in his hand, the brew the same crème colour as his jacket and the brown sprinkles on top of it were just like his hair. "Asked around at the scene to see if anyone knew what might have gone down, based on reports there are some gangs that hand around nearby but their just street kids and with only a priors on drug distribution and possession."

"That was quick." Castle said.

"They're on file, and oddly enough they don't have any history of violence, looks like their smart enough not to get caught or at least aren't confident enough to start a fight." Ryan replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

Just as that happened the elevator pinged and out came Esposito, Ryan's partner and with a few files in hand.

"Lanie got anything else for us?" Kate asked, finding the blank board to be not to her liking, she needed something.

"Nothing much." Esposito said, files tucked underneath his arm. "She's got the blood samples and is working on getting them identified, along with the prints. But there were four people in that alley rather than three."

With all that blood around it wouldn't be hard to believe there were more bodies, and the fact that they had been moved only confirmed that the killer likely didn't want this revealed. Yet if there were four bodies where was the other large puddle of blood and bodily fluids? Possibly a survivor? Maybe someone that was killed before these three? Possibly the killer who got hurt during their fight with the victims?

"Moving four bodies isn't easy, and unless the guy hacked them up, they had to have a car nearby to get rid of it all." Castle said, already getting into detective mode and one of the few times when he would be serious and helpful. "Could explain the amount of blood we found, also why they got sloppy and left behind the hand."

"We scoped the area, and we're still waiting for the tapes from last night, they're expect to be here tomorrow but we might not get a clear shot of the area where the killings took place, but if they did transport them off we might be able to see the car." Ryan said.

There were blood trails leading out of the alley, only one though and some splotches here and there showing some of the bodies were carried. But they stop near the entrance, so either a car was waiting to transport the bodies or they were stashed somewhere off the streets. Maybe she should see about getting another team in there to see if they could find anything.

"Did Lanie find anything?" Kate asked, hoping those files had some extra details.

"Nothing really, one victim was male and from thirty four to thirty six years old, and the blood samples won't be done for a while, but we could get the fingerprints by tomorrow." Esposito replied.

Kate nodded her head, it usually took a week or so to get those fingerprints, getting them tomorrow was a godsend really. But it likely helped that you had a friend in on the forensic team, you couldn't doubt that, but even so the rest of the day is not going to go by while she waits for those reports. She needed something to do, and when you have nothing on a case you start looking for something, and right now she just had a thought.

"Until we get an idea on the victims we got no leads, but since this was likely a group execution we should see if we can find other possible cases like this." Kate said, already looking for an angle to see if there may be more evidence lying around somewhere, maybe even on other cases.

"You think someone has done this before?" Ryan asked.

"You don't go around hacking into people on a whim, not when there is more than one person, they were confident they could kill all three of them and then remove the bodies, that is either premeditated or someone is cocky in thinking he can do it and get away with it." Kate said.

"They left behind a lot of blood through, and the hand." Ryan said.

"Most killers don't start off big, something like this is just too violent and aggressive, but it is well thought out." Castle said, standing up from his seat. "Four people in an alley, they all had to be together and likely were lured in as a group, you never attack a group of people unless you know you can take them down before they get away. And from where these bodies were likely lying, they either ran or the one that hit them was quick to get to each one before they could flee."

"Meaning that the killer has likely has done this before, spur of the moment and massacring a lot of people is one thing, but the fact the perp moved the bodies shows he knows not to leave obvious evidence behind, and likely knew where to hide the bodies, that is premeditated." Kate finished.

Spur of the moment left no openings and plans to dispose of evidence properly, she had been in enough crime scenes to know that killing someone on a whim often left a big mess and little in terms of preparation to dispose of the body. But what surprise her was the violence of it, while no bodies were around the file reported that there was blood and other bodily fluids in the puddles of gore. That meant these poor bastards had been quite literally cut to pieces by whoever attacked them, just as Lanie had said, that is a sign of a psychopath.

"Start looking for anything like this, crime scenes with lots of blood but no bodies, the more we find the easier this may be for us." Kate said, getting two nods from the detectives as they moved for their respective desks.

"Kind of weird thought, that they would leave behind physical evidence like that, usually someone who had done this enough times is more careful." Castle said, turning and dropping in his seat. "I mean when removing the bodies you would at least know which parts are missing."

After all how hard was it to miss that one of the bodies had lost a hand, along with the person who had carried out the deed itself. But his inquiry was not answered in an instant, he looked to find Beckett taking her seat and already searching through previous case files.

"Not all serial killers are perfect, sometimes they leave behind clues just to see if they get caught, other times it's just human error." Kate replied, getting a full list of responses for 'no bodies', about fifty two cases, that was a lot to search through, she may have all day but she didn't want to waste too much time.

"Or the person doing this doesn't care that we know, doesn't give a damn we go snooping." Castle said, looking analytically serious as he tried to deduce the killer's motive and character.

That was what Castle was best at, finding out exactly how the killer thought and acted and helped deduce exactly what he may do next and how he acts and why. In a way he would make a damn good profiler, if his stories didn't get in the way with how outlandishly fictitious they are, and she was just waiting for whatever crazy story he would come up with.

"Either way, we won't have anything until we get an idea on who the victim is." Kate said, scrolling through some of the case reports, finding some to be of note, oddly enough all of them had victims in large numbers, or at least there were suspected to be large numbers.

Scrolling through one she found that there had been a series of shootings in the Lower East Side, apparently a big shootout. When police arrives they found a hangout for a local street gang, lots of blood and shell casing, but not a single body to be found. Basics on the reports were sketchy; looks like the detectives didn't put much effort into finding the perps.

Eight suspected dead, all identified as affiliated gang members, signs that the bodies had been dragged from the room and dumped down a garbage chute. From there the trail goes cold, one witness did say they saw someone carrying something through the alley over their shoulders, they suspected that they may have been dumped into the sewers and transported off that way. No report given as the person was wearing dark clothing and couldn't be seen at night.

'Eight bodies, all of them gang bangers at that. Who the hell is this guy?' Beckett thought.

This case was not going to be simple, she knew that much, quickly she saved that report and moved onto the next. For the next few hours she skimmed the different reports, finding the same M.O., people were possibly dead and their bodies were missing and little in terms of witnesses. Most of the time they did describe the same individual, a person wearing all black and carrying the bodies away from the scene.

* * *

 **Castle's Apartment, 8:43PM**

Castle strolled into his loft, giving a quick glance around and found his daughter sitting in his kitchen, the kitchen island bench specifically, his beloved sunburnt haired little girl munching on a snack and doing homework.

"Hey dad, how was work?" Alexis asked, it was meant as a joke really, because technically he had to have a job to call it work.

"Oh, I wish I could laugh at that, yet after today I implore you never to get a desk job, it will turn your mind to pudding." Castle replied, giving a long drawn out and heavy sigh, showing his deep desire never to be a desk jockey.

"What happened? Another big case?" Alexis asked, chowing down on some of the leftover cake from gran's latest shindig with her friends, it was oddly spicy for a vanilla cake.

"No, looking at random case files that may or may not be connected to a murder, so boring, prefer it when I stand around dead people and… people who are sort of dead inside… anyway!" Castle said, giving his daughter a kiss on the head, before dropping onto the nearest stool, fist on the side of his head and supporting his glorious noggin. "How was your day?"

"Not too bad, gran was showing me her new dress and planning her date with Chet." Alexis replied.

"Speaking of which, where is the bane of my childhood and the corruptor of my innocence."

"Oh please Richard, I saved you from more terrible things than I caused!" Castle smirked as he glanced over to his mother, earrings and a multi-coloured dress that looked groovier than the seventies. "Remember when I told you not to sleep with that agent of yours? You listened to me then and you got a Best Seller, but as soon as you go off with her…"

"I get several more?" Castle asked, before placing both hands over his daughter's ears and whispering loudly. "Also please keep my personal relationships with others out of earshot from Alexis; I don't think her knowing about adult stuff is good for her."

"Don't worry dad, I tune that stuff out." Alexis said, despite having hands over her ears, smiling pleasantly at her father. "I also use earplugs when you bring any of them home late."

Martha gave a laugh before scolding him, saying something along the lines as him being a worse influence on his daughter than her. Castle covered his embarrassment well enough, a little dumb smile and a light glare always worked.

"So, how is Beckett? Do anything interesting today?" Martha asked, moving for the wine cooler to get a refill.

"Found a severed hand, and lots of blood, and that was about it, eight hours later on the computer and I think I have carpel tunnel." Rick said, flexing his fingers and twisting his wrist, truly the day had been boring as they tried to find any evidence regarding any possible earlier cases connected to this one.

It didn't really get them anything concrete, but it did open up a few possibilities of other cases being connected to theirs. Although it was a little disheartening to see that all were unsolved at the moment, but it was strange as they all started about six months ago. Close to twenty of them existed and all of them had the exact same circumstances, lots of blood and no bodies –extremities and all.

It was strange for something like this to just pop up and suddenly happen, killers were never so spontaneous like this, or random. But that made him wonder and fight to figure out what the person was doing and their motives, but they may have a lead on that. All the cases that bear similar resemblance all had one thing in common, the victims were all criminals in some manner. Murderers, extortionists, rapists, gang members, and all other kinds of people that society doesn't want to deal with.

Vigilantes, probably the most unique of criminals when it came down to it, they would go off an bring their own brand of justice to the streets and the bad guys. But this was way beyond bringing justice, this was just plain revenge if he ever saw it.

"Don't know why that is so boring, most of the time you are just stuck in front of the computer here you do nothing but stare at it." Martha said, her usual wit shining through and annoying him, likely where he got it.

"There is a difference, I formulate great stories within the confines of my mind and bring them out in unique and brilliant ways that cannot be put to paper until all that chaos of greatness has subsided." Rick said, smiling smugly.

"That's called writers block honey, you should know that." Martha replied, giving him a deadpan stare, before her son gave a huff in response. "Besides, the first question was about Beckett, how is she doing?"

Castle always hated it when his mother brought up Kate like that, always going to such strange and horrifying lengths to try and see if they had anything going on with each other. Truthfully he kept telling her that it was only for the books and to get inspiration for the character she is based on, Nikki Heat, that was all. But she never gave up on to make him see the light, as she called it, and made him realize that there was an attraction there.

"Well she is fine, aside from getting antsy when we didn't have anything to go on at first, but aside from that she is absolutely fine." Castle replied, dodging the question completely, smiling knowingly.

"Right, a slow day at work and you have nothing thought provoking to offer." Martha said, taking a sip of her wine, shaking her head at her son for his poor attempt to hide his feelings.

"Oh mother, don't give me that, it is just me and her working together on cases so that I can get the inspiration for my next series of books. I am learning something new about her every day." Castle replied, actually looking desperate to get it through to her that there is nothing going on between him and Backett.

"Now I know for a fact you are lying, with how much you have bothered her this past year and a half I know for a fact that you aren't staying around for another book." Martha said.

Leaving Castle to remain motionless and quiet, his head bowing slightly and his mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely. Maybe he had been part of her life for a while now, but he knew that this wasn't about some damn cliché love story; no he wasn't in it for that. He had to keep telling himself that before Alexis actually broke him out of his reverie a few minutes later.

Yet he had a thought just them, not regarding getting to know Beckett more as a person or romantic partner, no it was about the victims.

* * *

 **Next Day**

 **12th Precinct, 7:39AM**

"I have a theory on why they take the bodies." Castle said, he had dropped into his seat quickly that it threatened to fall over with him in it, and Kate would have thought him serious with how he said it and with such a straight face.

But knowing him it had to be something incredibly out of left field or just downright stupid. Sometimes Beckett wondered if she should entertain him, allow him to get this out of his system so she can blow it off, or hold him back and make him squirm. Although, him squirming, often when he got frustrated he became more annoying and also his explanations became longer. So…

"Okay, let's hear it." Kate said, resigning herself to the crazy.

"They always take the bodies, what if they are doing this for more than just to keep them from being found." Castle said, trying to be serious, at least that was what she was thinking before he did something strange. "They take the bodies but leave the blood behind, attack in the open and with groups of people, and there have been multiple cases of this, if they are random then why hide who you murdered?"

For once Beckett was actually not annoyed with the man's logic, it was oddly insightful, and in a way she had wondered about it herself. The bodies being taken may drop the likelihood of the culprits being found as they struggle to find a clear motive, but that was if this wasn't a random attacking. Because the way the attacks went done appear to be random and spur of the moment, or at least they found someone they wanted dead and killed them.

Considering that there were multiple reports on this but little to identify exactly who it was and why they were doing it they had little to go on. Most of the reports never got past a week because nothing turned up, and usually any further evidence was catalogued but never tied to a case, and that was a problem. Nearly all of the reports didn't have anything regarding the victims, mainly just blood samples that were not put in for processing because the bodies were gone.

Although she had a sinking suspicion on who these guys might have been, most of these attacked happened in neighbourhood rife with criminal elements and likely they were the targets of this killer.

"We are looking at this as if it is premeditated, meaning that the killer knew of them or at least planned it out, but truthfully that would imply that he did this beforehand rather than being spontaneous." Castle said. "This case is probably the most interesting I have ever been on, a murderer that is spontaneous and yet cautious, don't see that every day. But if your theory is right we might have a way to determine where he might strike next."

"Yeah, has me worried that this killer may escalate, if that happens we may be dealing with someone that doesn't care they get caught, and people without anything to loose often do something that get more people killed." Beckett said.

Rick knew that, if this person was a true wack job, a lot of serial killers had often gone off the deep end and simply started killing at random and without care. Even mass shootings and massacres were carried out by serial killers, so if this person really did decide not to care if they lived or died, then that body count would skyrocket. They had nearly sixty possibly victims all across Manhatten, that was over a six month period, there is no telling what could happen in the following few weeks if he got bolder with his attacks.

"Hey Beckett, I got something for you, it's the blood samples back from the lab." Ryan said, strolling over to the desk, Esposito right beside him.

"Yeah, and it looks like you were right about all the vics beings criminals in some capacity, these three are certainly deserving of getting cut up." Esposito said, just as Kate opened the file and Castle leaped from his seat to read it over her shoulder. "More than that, we did a bit more digging on the other victims and case files, they were some high rollers in their own areas, and they were some nasty dude."

Beckett glanced through the sheet she was given, names and faces popped out to her and immediately her theory was confirmed. This person was targeting criminals, not just any type of criminal either, nasty ones, now they had a motive.

"All these guys have rap sheets, long ones, some of them shouldn't even be on the streets." Kate said, looking at the list of the dead, their blood samples confirming who they were and what they had done.

Violence, rape, extortion, and a few homicides were distributed between them all, these guys were a bunch of nasty people and they were all dead. With these sorts of raps there couldn't be a shadow of a doubt that no one didn't know what kind of people these guys were. Meaning that the killer likely didn't have to look too hard to find and kill them, all he needed was time and a place. That might make things easier, if they can narrow down some known criminals than they could potentially create an ambush.

"What about the four along Twelfth and Fourth?" Kate asked.

"Not four, three." Ryan said, pointing in the file at the top three photos. "Darryl Walsh, convicted of rape, aggravated assault, attempted murder and resisting arrest, also some priors but nothing really stuck to the guy. Although he did serve time recently and was let out six weeks ago after breaking his restraining order and getting into an altercation with his former girlfriend and her current boyfriend."

Beckett looked at the man, long thin black hair tied into a pony tail, tattoos on his neck with a face that practically looked snarling despite how casual it looked. Yeah, she could see this guy as a rapist and murderer.

"What about the other two?" Kate asked.

"The other two samples are Gustavo Alexander and Dominic Robbins, two buddies of his; they got a rap sheet just as long as this guy. Did a little looking around and we found out that they frequent the Black Bar Hall, it's a pub down on First Avenue."

"That's only three blocks away from where the murder took place." Castle stated.

"Yeah, but they haven't been there in over two weeks, apparently they moved onto the much more docile side on Third Avenue, they were frequenting a bar there call The Smiling Alehouse." Ryan said.

"Sounds much more delightful than their usual spot." Castle said, before he had a thought. "How did you know they were there?"

"Because I pulled up a report on this guy a week and half ago causing a disturbance in the Bar, got a little handy with the waitress and the cops were pulled in, two days in lockup and he was out." Esposito said, shaking his head as he said it, someone like this with his convictions should never have made it out of jail.

"What about the fourth?" Kate asked, they said they had four people, either that is another victim or the killer.

"Lisa Mendoza, twenty three, no criminal record and no prior conviction. But she works at The Smiling Alehouse and is the waitress in question that they were trying to feel up." Ryan said, giving Kate another file on the woman in question. "She lives at the Hyatt Union Square hotel, which is in-between Twelfth and Thirteenth Street on Fourth Avenue."

"So what happened? He killed a witness so they couldn't be identified?" Castle said.

"I don't she was his victim, maybe she was Darryl's." Kate said, seeing these guys' rap sheets she knew exactly what these three were doing with her in the alley. "There was a mattress and sheets in the alleyway, they weren't dirty or damp so they couldn't have been there long, these three were waiting for her. They were going to rape her and then our vigilante turned up and killed them in the act."

"Well we can find out soon enough, I called the hotel she is staying at, and apparently the guy at the front desk saw Lisa come in last night, she looked shaken up, and hasn't come out of her room since." Ryan said.

Kate was already reaching for her coat when she heard that there was a witness that was still alive, now they could get some answers. Castle was close behind her, leaping from his seat and following after her.

"Let's go."

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

The bodies on her shoulders were not that heavy, seventy kilos each, not that hard to carry, and the one she dragged wasn't even that much more difficult. But still the long walk through these underground tunnels made it hard to keep a steady pace with her cargo. Nine hours she had been walking, dragging these carcasses through the sewers and multiple levels trying to reach the conclave.

She wasn't tired, only bored with the entire task she performed, back in Northrend a trek like this often had you fighting through all kinds of undead in order to reach her destination. Never before would she think that fighting through a narrow tunnel system in order to reach a destination without having to fight to it was boring. But in truth these last eight months had been a nightmare for her and her forces.

"We need to get back home, I cannot stand being in this wretches world any longer."

Plunging the bloody, mostly dried up, carcasses down a shaft she dropped down after them. Falling twenty meters before hitting solid concrete, letting out a large splash as her armoured boots pushed aside the murky water. She found the bodies; half submerged, and quickly picked up her cargo before continuing her trek.

"What took you?"

She stopped, her eyes darting to the voice and narrowing, she was getting careless if she didn't notice anyone.

She found her comrade standing guard, hidden in the shadows of the nearby archway, covered in a baggy hoodie with equally baggy jeans. By his side was a Runeblade, the script along it surface glowing and pulsing as if it were a heartbeat. The seven foot tall juggernaut of muscle regarded her for a moment, his glowing blue orbs glaring at her.

"Found these three above, killed them and took their souls, every soul counts at this point." She replied, not giving him another glance as she strolled forward and past him.

"That's strange, you went against your own orders, did you not say that we are not to engage anyone unless we have opportunity and the unlikelihood of being discovered?" He said, as if mocking her, she did not like his tone nor his disrespect to her command. "We were also told not to do it alone."

"Saw an opportunity, we are closer than we have been in months and we cannot afford subtlety now, not when we are so close." She replied calmly, her voice devoid of emotion even as she spoke of her ultimate desire. "I however will not be dropping my previous orders, no one engages unless give instruction."

With that final order she moved forward, into the conclaves domain and where the bodies were stored, the foul stench permeated the air yet she did not react to it. Casually tossing the dead into the mass of corpses they had procured over the last six months here.

"Of course, Dread-Commander." He replied, yet she was far from being within earshot to hear him, giving a gruff snort before allowing her to pass with the three bodies. "Typical, she does what she feels like, leaving us only a few chances to satiate our hunger."

* * *

 **Hope to hear what you think!**


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